Some adventurous Manhattan lawyers have turned to wild side jobs to sharpen their courtroom performances.

Hard-charging public defender Eliza Orlins competed on two seasons of the CBS reality-TV show “Survivor.”

Litigator Liam Malanaphy works as a magician on weekends.

Liam MalanaphySteven Hirsch

And Antonia Messina exchanges her conservative courthouse suits for the exuberant garb of a traditional Flamenco dancer after hours.

“So much of what we do in court is performance,” said Malanaphy, 49, who recently defended a pimp accused of beating up hookers while calling himself the “Black Hitler.”

Eliza Orlins on “Survivor: Micronesia Fans vs. Favorites”CBS

Malanaphy, who has a private criminal practice, spends his weekends wearing a top hat, doing card tricks and pulling rabbits from hats for children’s birthday parties and events.

“The two most discerning audiences anyone can ever have are a sophisticated Manhattan jury and a bunch of 5-year-olds,” said Malanaphy of Kensington, Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, Orlins, 33, took a break from law school in 2007 to film “Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites” in Palau, Koror.

It was the second time the sexy brunette competed on the popular series, which ships contestants to exotic locale to pit them against the elements and each other. She also made it to the final four in 2004 on “Survivor: Vanuatu.”

The show “taught me how to deal with people who are sometimes very difficult and even some of whom I don’t like,” Orlins said. “That experience translates to this job because on a daily basis, I’m confronted with difficult people I may not like, but we still have to work together.”

The reality-show graduate said she occasionally gets recognized at the Manhattan Criminal Court building, sometimes even by a starstruck defendant.

One turnstile jumper couldn’t stop staring, she said.

“When he walked out, he came up to me with a big smile and said, ‘I know who you are, I’m a big fan,’ ” she said.

Antonia Messina in her flamenco costume.The Star Ledger

Messina, a lawyer for more than two decades, said she became entranced with Flamenco while living in Italy years ago.

Then, while attending Northeastern University School of Law, she joined a Flamenco dance company and twirled and clicked her heels on stage with a flower pinned to her hair.

“I needed a counterpoint to the extreme stress of this job,” she said. “The horror of people going to jail for long periods, especially as a woman, you can’t show any emotion, you can’t cry in court, break down or show how maybe the situation is really touching you, whereas all that gutsy stuff like anger and pride can be expressed in dancing.”

“When you’re on trial, it’s all about listening to the witness, cross examining him in the moment and responding to how he’s responding to you,” said Messina, who represented terrorist Abdul Kadir for plotting to blow up JFK airport.

”It’s like a dance in its way.”

Messina, the owner of the dance company Viva Flamenco NJ, said she doesn’t advertise her second job to clients, but a few have figured out he colorful hobby.

“I’ve had clients who’ve looked me up online and see that I do Flamenco and say, ‘I actually want to hire you because it shows you have passion,’ ” she said.